Subscriber of the Gods Chapter 412 - Remaining Tasks

“This, this can’t be happening.”

With the surprised herbalist in front of him, Ethan began to quickly plant the herbs.

-Your skill level has increased!

Demeter’s skill, Blessing of Abundance, was clearly being applied.

This Blessing of Abundance had the power to make any crop grow in the best condition possible.

In other words, if planted this way, it meant they would absolutely never die.

Shoop-. Shoop-.

As the herbs continued to maintain their vitality despite Ethan’s relentless planting, the herbalist was left speechless.

On the other hand, the newly recruited mages cheered.

“Ooooh-!”

“Lord Ethan already had a plan!”

Of course, when they first heard Ethan’s plan, they thought it would be difficult.

Herb cultivation and insect breeding. Countless mages had attempted to accomplish these two things simultaneously.

But without a single successful case, many had failed.

Yet Ethan had just gone and done it.

Ethan finished planting all the seedlings and then moved on to planting the seeds.

‘Land Enhancement.’

Shaaaaaaak-.

Instantly, a powerful life force began to spread through the ground.

“This isn’t enough.”

Ethan raised his hand and summoned the Earth Spirit King.

Kuguuuguuung-!

-What is this power of the earth as mighty as my own!

The summoned Tror looked at Ethan with a surprised expression.

“W-what…?”

“A spirit…?”

The mages saw the spirit king summoned by Ethan.

“E-Earth spirit! And not just high-level, but top-tier…!?”

The herbalist who had brought the herb seedlings and seeds trembled as he looked at Tror. This powerful earth force… it was far beyond even the highest-tier spirits.

“Then… could it be, could it be a spirit king…?”

If it was above the highest-tier spirits, there was only one possibility.

Spirit King.

“That’s right, I am the Earth Spirit King. You are one who loves the earth. I smell the fragrant scent of herbs from you.”

“Spirit King…”

The herbalist prostrated himself on the spot.

“Tror, what are you doing?”

“Well… he just recognized me.”

“I’m going to plant herbs here. I’ve already enhanced it with the technique I learned, but could you bestow your blessing once more?”

At Ethan’s request, Tror looked closely at the ground.

“Where on earth did you learn such a technique? This level… the land has already received considerable power? And I see other blessings have been bestowed as well… Hmm.”

Tror’s face showed a slight hurt pride.

“I can’t lose.”

He then concentrated all his power into his hands.

The mages watched Ethan and Tror with sparkling eyes.

Given the unfolding situation, that spirit was clearly a spirit king.

“To command a spirit king…”

“And that spirit king is clearly following Lord Ethan’s orders…”

A spirit king is a powerful being.

Even when forming a contract, it’s done on equal terms. Of course, even with an equal relationship, there was a high possibility that the contracted spirit wouldn’t grant requests.

But the relationship between the spirit king and Ethan clearly appeared to be one of superior and subordinate.

“I’m going to raise precious herbs and insects here.”

“If that’s the case… Hup!”

Tror gave it his all. As the Earth Spirit King, all life forms growing from the earth are under Tror’s influence.

His contractor, Ethan, had seemed quite monstrous from the moment he first saw him.

Therefore, it wasn’t surprising that Ethan was using the power of abundance.

After all, that power was ultimately borrowed, wasn’t it?

In contrast, his own power was original. The original itself.

“Contractor, I’ll prove once more how great it is to have contracted with me, Tror. This is my area of expertise!”

While he might not be of much help in fighting, this was an area where Tror could give his all.

Shaaaaaaak-.

Then the ground began to glow.

A powerful life energy spread out and was soon absorbed into the ground.

“The smell… the smell has changed.”

“It’s a fresh green scent?”

A scent that hadn’t been there in the empty lot until just now appeared.

“This… it’s the smell I once encountered when wandering through the elven forest.”

Ethan knew this scent well too.

‘It’s the World Tree scent.’

It was the scent that filled the air when the World Tree emitted its powerful life energy.

In other words, this entire empty lot had become as full of vitality as the elven forest where the World Tree was located.

“Huff… Huff…”

Tror, having exerted great power, exhaled, seeming quite tired. But his expression was filled with satisfaction.

“Tror.”

“W-well? How is it, contractor!”

Tror focused on Ethan’s mouth.

For a moment, Ethan slightly frowned.

Could it be insufficient?

As Tror was about to open his mouth, Ethan gave a thumbs up.

“It’s excellent, Tror. As expected of a spirit king.”

At Ethan’s praise, Tror couldn’t contain his smile.

“Hahaha-. Don’t forget that the spirit contracted with you is the Earth Spirit King who rules the land.”

“I’ll call you again later, Tror.”

“Alright, call me again.”

Shaaaak-.

He disappeared much more spectacularly than when Tror had appeared.

Ethan gestured to the mages who were watching with wide eyes behind him.

“The preparations are complete. From now on, it’s your time, so I leave it to you.”

“Yes!”

“…Yes! We’ll do our best!”

The mages shouted. Ethan patted their shoulders and then spoke to the herbalist who had imported the herb seedlings, seeds, and insects.

“Good job.”

“…Ye-yes!”

***

‘Once I cross over to the Demon Empire, I won’t be able to return for a while.’

Therefore, he had to finish everything he needed to do in the Holy Empire before crossing over to the Demon Empire.

‘Completely eliminating the place for the 1st and 2nd Apostles in the Demon Empire to return to.’

The calamities caused by these individuals ultimately stem from the Dawn Council’s lord’s plan.

The headquarters of the Dawn Council, where that Dawn Council’s lord is located, is precisely where the 1st and 2nd Apostles would return to.

‘If I deal with the Dawn Council’s lord, the 1st and 2nd Apostles will essentially be isolated with nowhere to return to.’

Furthermore, the Dawn Council itself could collapse.

‘Although the 3rd Apostle recruited numerous individuals from the Dawn Council’s branch, they can all be replaced.’

The Dawn Council’s lord could use their eloquence to create as many new believers as needed.

As these believers grow, they become new apostles or true apostles.

‘From First Order to Third Order, they can be easily created.’

It was absolutely necessary to eliminate the Dawn Council’s lord, who was the core of this driving force.

‘The Dawn Council’s lord is strong.’

And they were an unknown.

Even for Ethan, stagnant water at MePan, there wasn’t even a small piece of information about them.

‘It’s the same as the higher apostles. I know they’re in that position, but I don’t know what their abilities are.’

But the same goes for the other side.

‘They don’t know exactly about me either. They only know me as a failed creation of the Rosicrucian Order, but they don’t know what my abilities are.’

Of course, seeing that the 3rd Apostle brought such a tremendous force, it’s clear they’re rating this side quite highly.

‘But that was solely the 3rd Apostle’s judgment. The other apostles or the council head might be different.’

In any case, waiting any longer would be a significant loss.

Once you’ve made up your mind, you need to move.

‘I’m leading the game.’

Now he had the power to do so.

‘First, I’ll request support.’

Ethan requested the troop support that Princess Evangeline had promised earlier.

50 of the princess’s personal troops, including the Black Sword.

‘The number of troops isn’t what’s important.’

The princess’s personal troops are all quite skilled individuals.

Especially in this situation, the quality of the troops was more important than their number.

‘Not only the believers they keep creating, but they might have other abilities too.’

Ethan was quite wary of the endless potential and malice that the Dawn Council possessed.

‘They’re the kind that keeps producing something no matter how much you dig.’

What was the reason Ethan had painfully acquired the ability of infallibility? Wasn’t it to achieve victory through his abilities, no matter what the opponent might be?

‘Until now, I’ve only used on humans, but in future battles, I can’t be certain I’ll only face humans. The Dawn Council has non-human beings too. They could create or summon them.’

From the beginning, they’ve been using all sorts of methods to bring the Moon Mother to this land.

In that process, they’ve even opened the gates to the demon realm.

‘When I was searching for Moonforce’s temple, I encountered demons.’

According to the original scenario, Ivecar should have fallen, and a massive war called the Sun War should have broken out in the north.

Through that war, the gates to the demon realm, which had only opened in fragments until now, would open wide, allowing numerous demons and monsters from the demon realm to cross over.

‘It’s one of the main scenarios.’

As Ethan changed history, the main scenario was also changing.

‘The Sun War in the north probably won’t happen. Because I’ve already intervened in the north.’

What happens before the Sun War is the evil god incident.

Due to the evil god, the Gaister Desert in the north becomes a land full of cold, and the Sun War is fought to obtain the warm sun.

‘The Twelve Families join the fight too.’

Because of that, the scale becomes quite large, and in the process, the gates to the demon realm open due to a noble family that crossed the line.

‘I can control the Twelve Families, and the north has stabilized. There’s no more desert in the north.’

With no cold coming and the evil god gone, there’s no need for the sun.

‘But now it’s quite questionable.’

Now that he can grasp the situation in many ways, a few questions have arisen.

In the scenario, it was said that one of the Twelve Families opened the gates to the demon realm, but no matter how he thought about it, there was no Twelve Families house capable of opening the gates to the demon realm.

‘Right now, even the families I’m connected with, and among the other families, there’s none with that kind of capability.’

This means there might be someone who carried out the deed under the name of the Twelve Families.

‘No matter how I think about it, it seems like the Dawn Council to me.’

If it’s the Dawn Council, they surely possess knowledge related to this.

Not only the knowledge they’ve accumulated in preparation for the Moon Mother’s descent, but they also have reasons to cause chaos and confusion in the world.

‘Because they need to absorb souls.’

Especially the 3rd Apostle he fought this time was an apostle who mainly caused such conflicts and gained considerable benefits.

‘If that Sun War occurred under the Dawn Council’s control, and furthermore, if they opened the gates to the demon realm taking advantage of that chaos?’

This means they have the ability to open the gates to the demon realm.

And the source of that ability is surely the Dawn Council’s lord who would be at the Dawn Council’s headquarters.

‘If we attack recklessly, they might open the gates to the demon realm.’

Surely, there won’t be many believers left. But since they need to block Ethan’s attack, there’s a high possibility they’ll use non-believers to open the gates to the demon realm.

“To prevent that, we need to block as much as possible from escaping out of the Dawn Council’s headquarters.”

What if the gates to the demon realm open at the Dawn Council’s headquarters?

The gates to the demon realm that opened during the Sun War were in the north, so it took quite some time to come down to the central continent.

Therefore, even if additional forces came through the gates to the demon realm, there was time to deal with it.

But currently, the Dawn Council’s headquarters is in the central continent.

‘There won’t be much time to deal with it, and numerous territories will disappear.’

“We don’t know what kind of tricks they’re up to even now.”

Suddenly, a good idea occurred to Ethan.

“It might be good to prepare one more countermeasure.”

There’s a quest that Ethan received.

If he carries out a task in conjunction with that quest, he can completely block all the cards that the Dawn Council’s lord might play.

“It might be a bit risky, but.”

The return was just as big.